Fashion Meets Comedy: Rachel Comey Taps Funny Ladies

Designer Rachel Comey has always offered fans a glimpse into her operations via a livestream on her homepage. This month, she used the space to provide us with some serious laughs. Starlee Kline played host to a weekly comedy series starring Carrie Brownstein, Miranda July, Jo Firestone, and other hilarious ladies. Did you miss it? Well, you're in luck. Right now, she's playing a loop of the three performances. Before you tune in, read up on how she came up with the idea:

How did you conceive of the project?

We launched a livestream as our homepage less than a year ago. The idea was to give our window into our studio, literally, and into our world in general.

In the beginning we had a fax machine set up and you could see your fax come through. I think ELLE sent us a fax at one point. We've had a holiday music concert. It's just nice as a small brand to find people who you align with aesthetically or work you appreciate and be able to create a platform for them to do something. It's just a fun thing, and if it enriches our lives, [then] why not?

What made you decide to feature female comedians?

I don't know where that started. Fashion and comedy are not exactly friends usually, but we love comedy. I think there's potential there. In general, we are interested in women in the arts—writers, musicians, and comedians. It was just really fun.

You've tried to blend comedy and fashion before. In 2009, you sent your models down the runway to a comedy track by Heather Lawless. Was that a success?

I think so! She created this kind of voice over. So models walked down a plastic runway to this stream-of-conscious [type of] track. It touched on a lot of interesting issues that relate to self-image. So it was kind of nice to create that context. That was really fun and weird, and a nice experiment.

Is your showcase addressing a lack of exposure for female comedians?

I think there are a lot of really successful, awesome female comedians right now. Maybe they're having a moment. We have our top women in comedy now, like Tina Fey and Amy Poehler—maybe it just took time. What's so great about female comedians is that they're thinkers and I love that. It's exciting and it's nice to think about things from different points of views.

Are you funny?

I'd like to think I'm a little bit funny. I don't know if everyone will agree with that, but I like things that are a little bit off or odd. And I like that in clothing too, I like it in a lot of ways.

Tell us your best joke!

I don't even have a joke. But one New Yorker cartoon that makes me laugh constantly is when it's the rigatoni that's on the phone. He answers the phone, and he's like, "Fusilli you crazy bastard, how are you?" [Laughs] It's the most awesome thing, it's really wild [Laughs].